Do Angels Sing the Blues?

Do Angels Sing the Blues? is an intimate and emotionally-charged coming-of-age drama set against a backdrop of high school friendship, music, and loss. The story explores how harmony between two best friends can be undone by the arrival of one complicated girl. Raw, heartfelt, and resonant with the power of music to express what words alone cannot, it’s a story where the beat of adolescence is syncopated by the rhythms of loss, but also the spirit-refreshing powers of music and love.

      On a summer afternoon, in a suburban town on the Connecticut shoreline, 10-year-old James Buglioni sits on his front porch step strumming an old Martin acoustic guitar, simple chords, a blues shuffle, trying to ignore a rowdy, noisy game of  street soccer going on In the cul-de-sac circle. Even his little sister is playing. She's athletic. He's not. Down the street, a moving van crew is unpacking a full load into a large antique colonial. 10-year-old Theo Stone emerges from behind the van and races up the street toward the action, stopping short on the sidewalk between the guitar kid and the soccer gang. He looks back and forth a few times, then decisively heads for the porch and sits on the edge of the step. James looks at him guardedly, but moves over to make room, while still strumming. Theo bobs his head to the beat. After a minute he starts improvising some lyrics. "Well, we're movin' in, movin in down the street. Yeah we're movin' in, movin in down the street. And here's this neighbor kid, he's really got the beat." James stops strumming, looks at the grinning new kid and chuckles. Theo stands, jerks his head toward his house, and says "Come on!" He starts trotting across the lawn, then turns and waits. James looks at his guitar, then, holding it by the neck, jogs toward Theo. Off they go, to become inseparable friends.

     Their musical partnership grows, through their first nameless band playing 8th grade graduation parties, to the 10th grade triumph at the Beach Club Band Jamboree, winning first prize—500 bumper stickers with their band's name: Blues Thing. By then, James' nickname is "Boog" after Freddie King's version of "Boogie Man." Theo and Boog are solid, anchored by music, late-night jam sessions, and dreams of making it big with their garage blues band. But when Carey Harrigan transfers into the senior class at Yardley High, their rhythm falters. Theo falls hard for her, drawn to her sensitivity, vulnerability, and the sadness she carries from losing her mother, and watching her father's growing alcoholism consume him. Boog admires her talent but resents her growing hold on Theo, sensing an undercurrent that could derail everything they’ve built.

     March of senior year, Blues Thing is on the cusp of real success. The band's new professionally recorded demo has made the cut for a big radio-station sponsored Ultimate Battle of the Bands—six bands, with the winner getting $1,000 cash and a 6-gig contract at a legendary local music hall, The Factory. But their big chance is blown when Carey shows up drunk at school, and Theo, trying to help her, is found holding a pint of vodka next to her locker. He  takes the rap for the alcohol possession to protect Carey, resulting in school suspension and total grounding for one month,  no exceptions, not even the Ultimate Battle of the Bands.

    As Theo’s obsession with helping Carey heals her spirit but fractures his own, the trio’s lives spiral toward confrontation and tragedy. When an impulsive decision on a foggy night ends in Theo’s accidental death, Boog is forced to face his anger, guilt, and grief — and to find redemption through the same music that once bound them together.

James Buglioni: High school senior, accomplished blues guitarist, and manager of his band, Blues Thing, whose local star is on the rise. Orderly, methodical, logical, and cautious, risk-aversive, his passion comes out in his music. 

Theodore Haley Stone: High school senior, charismatic vocalist frontman of Blues Thing. Optimistic, extroverted, loving, but shortsighted. Sometimes an unwise risk-taker, rushing in where angels fear to tread. His wish to save Carey from herself with his love leads to tragedy.

Carey "?" Harrigan: Creative, a gifted writer, a kind-hearted girl with a drinking problem and a fragile identity. Her needs upset the balance in the band and James and Theo's friendship, when she and Theo become deeply entangled.

Mr. Harrigan: Carey's alcoholic father, widowed, single parent, formerly a biology teacher. 

Natalie Stewart: A senior queen bee whose romantic overtures are consistently brushed off by Theo. 

Charlie Eliot: 14-year-old living in a special youth shelter due to an abusive home situation, he becomes James' first guitar lesson student at the request of Ms. Brockmeyer. Abrasive, witty, gallant, wounded, his guard gradually lowers to let James in—James, and also, his sister Allie.

Allie Buglioni: James' 14-year-old sister, spunky, spicy, mother-sassing, brother-bugging, raring-to-grow, also insightful and caring. She plays soccer and takes a strong liking to Charlie.

Ms. Brockmeyer: 20th Century Global Studies teacher (and board member of the non-profit youth shelter where Charlies lives), Ms. Brockmeyer is a petite drill sergeant who has standards for classroom behavior that Carey doesn't meet. Yet she sees through Carey's persona to the troubled girl inside, and ultimately is an agent of Carey's redemption after the tragedy.

Nathaniel and Cornelia Benson: Carey's elderly, old-fashioned, farm-folk neighbors, who live simply in a firetrap of an antique farmhouse on two hundred acres of land worth tens of millions. They love Carey, who helps them with gardening and other chores. They have no other family.